Abstract

The two irreplaceable pillars of modern civilization are capitalism and democracy. Evidence of their widespread influence can be found in the number of peoples and polities that have come to embrace their guiding tenets and beliefs. They are often portrayed as complementary or interconnected systems, even though antagonisms have arisen when economic imperatives that prioritize efficient allocation of resources are deemed incompatible with political principles grounded in notions of equality and fairness. Still, most observers seem to agree that each system, however flawed, is preferable to comparable forms of social organization, and that any incongruities between them can be reconciled or overcome. This paper seeks to demonstrate that capitalism and democracy are, in fact, ideologically opposed forces, and, like oil and water, can only coexist as discrete entities, for their innate impulses, understood in terms of power, scale, and interaction, result in a perpetual clash of divergent values that calls into question the future viability of the nation-state.